Meghalaya woman wearing traditional dress asked to leave Delhi Golf Club for 'looking like a maid'

People from North-eastern part of the country continue to face discrimination in their own national capital. Even today, there are places in India where Indians are not allowed to visit in their ethnic/traditional wear. In yet another case of discrimination, a Khasi lady was humiliated and asked to leave a venue in Delhi just because she was wearing her ethnic dress.

Many guests ranging from philosophers and academicians to bureaucrats and doctors were invited to the Delhi Golf Club on June 25. Tailin Lyngdoh, who hails from Meghalaya also featured in the list. She is a proud Khasi lady who has travelled the world from London to UAE in her Jainsem, the traditional Khasi dress.

On the Sunday afternoon when the part began the manager, Ajit Pal accompanied by a lady, Sumita Thakur, approached Tailin and asked her to leave the table and the room. In their words ‘maids are not allowed’.

Nivedita Barthakur, an entrepreneur from Northeast India who was accompanying Lyngdoh, , questioned them, they responded that she looked like a maid, a ‘Nepali’ and her dress was different. It was pointed out that she was an invited guest, she is a Khasi lady and she is wearing her traditional dress, a Jainsem. Notedly, Lyngdoh was working as a governess for Nivedita’s son. Dr Nivedita even said that she is from Assam and it could have been that she was her relative. Also, she did not carry a badge saying that she was a domestic worker.

However, they were adamant on their demand and even others remained mere spectators, with some even commenting, “Pata nahin kahan kahan se ate hain”!(Don’t know where such people come from)

“We left the club feeling stripped of our dignity, feeling vulnerable for being North-easterners and looking different”,Northeasttoday quoted Nivedita as saying.

According to the dress code regulations laid out for course and Club House by